CAREER: Doing What You LOVE or Learning to LOVE the Things You Do?

When we finally landed the job that we were aiming for, there are tiny unsettling questions that linger in our minds:"Is this what I REALLY want?""Do I deserve this role""Will I be able to make the cut"etc.. etc..Life is full of unexpected things, people aim for the job they thought they would love, but along the way, learn that they aren't really happy.So my question is.. in terms of career...ARE YOU DOING WHAT YOU LOVE? or HAVE YOU LEARNED TO LOVE THE THINGS YOU DO?Although I am young, I have experienced a handful of career shifts, in my 29th year of existence, I roughly had 10+ years of work experience divided by various roles. I shall tell you my story and gradually share where I stand. (PICS throughout my journey)

In 2007 I started to work as a Admin & Technical Assistant/Web Developer for a small company located in Makati central business district and my boss was amazingly kindhearted. I was a working student who studied Information Technology in Sta. Mesa (which was quite far from my home in Paranaque). At this point, my goal was to simply get a degree that fits my budget and help me earn a lot of money. Since I am computer savvy, (though not my first option) my mind was certain that being a developer was the best approach! 3 years in the company helped me learn a lot of things which usually involves budgeting what I had in my pocket and looking for freelance jobs for extra cash.On my third year of College, due to undisclosed reasons, I dropped out of school to focus more on earning money from a full time job. In my three years of college, I did wonderfully in terms of looking for on-the-side jobs such as freelance web development, virtual administrative work, and investing extra money that came by.

Without a day's rest, I went on to my next adventure as a Technical Support Representative for a night shift contact center, ePLDT Ventus in which I was later on transferred to SPi Global CRM. The account that I've been assigned to involves troubleshooting multiple web hosting servers and mail servers through SSH (picture a black and white screen with only the keyboard to navigate), it was truly difficult, even for a person with knowledge of computers; despite this, me and my peers persevered and became the pioneers of the account.

After a year, I was promoted as Technical Training Specialist for the account I was working on, It was indeed true that contact center jobs have fast paced and performance based promotions. It started when I was helping my Team Leader fill in for our designated trainer who had a serious accident at that time.Being a Training Specialist was great, I learned that I have a passion for nurturing minds, I loved what I was doing, despite standing all day and the long after-shift admin work (usually called "OTY" for unpaid overtime), I was contented and happy. However, a sudden change happened yet again, for the sake of healthier work hours and for the woman I love.Sidenote: This is where I met my gal. ;)

In 2012, I got accepted as a full time Web Developer for one of the best Health Maintenance Organizations in the country. Our team was small and quiet, but it eventually evolved and everyone gained a voice as we get to know each other.I stayed here for 3 years and tried to apply all the things I've learned from the past experiences, making the company more and more technologically inclined, one step at a time.

Three years later, an affiliate company of this HMO was established and I was invited to become part of the Business Development Department, which is my current role as of today (2 years and counting). At first, I was scared and excited, who wouldn't be? This was something new and it was worlds apart from my previous jobs! However, due to optimism, perseverance, as well as the support of my colleagues, I have managed to get by and continue to further my knowledge in terms of communication and negotiation, I even had a chance to start a small company with my peers!

You might have realized by now that throughout my career, I have often learned to love what I was doing for a living.To tell you frankly, at first I wanted to become a lawyer, but honestly, things don't always happen the way you wanted it to be.Please don't get me wrong, I am definitely not saying that you should love your current job unconditionally, nor am I implying to be contented with what you have, OPPORTUNITIES are out there for the taking, GRAB THEM BY ALL MEANS!It is with my purest intentions to say that if you are given a chance to have a job that you initially loved to do, without any issues whatsoever, cherish it, protect it, and be proud about it!But if you are in a career path with feelings of uncertainty, think about giving it a chance to nurture you, because you will definitely learn a thing or two.. By learning to love the things you do..